Lost Time
by yotb0ka
Summary: Chloe disappears during a recon, only to reappear without any recollection of her lost time.
1. Chapter 1

**Lost Time **

**Summary:** Chloe disappears during a recon, only to reappear without any recollection of her lost time.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. Everything belongs to their respective owners.

English is not my first language, sorry for any mistakes in advance.

* * *

**Lost time - **_**Reunion**_** (1/4)**

Dark. Sudden light. Chloe Sullivan opens her eyes and all she could see were a pair of lights coming in her direction. _Where was she? What hell happened? Oh my god, that's a car!_ Chloe starts to get out of the way, but the car is coming in her direction and almost hit her, if she hadn't quickly jumped and rolled to the side. _That was close_ , she thought. It was then it hit her, why she was soaking wet laying down at night in the middle of a road and she didn't have any clue where and how she end up there.

She started trying to remember where she was last. The first thing the came to her mind was that she decided to go solo to do a recon. But this place seemed anywhere but close to that place.

She tried to see if she had anything with her, but her pockets were empty and her clothes were not hers. _What the hell?_

She started walking in direction that the car went. After some hours walking she finally saw a house with some lights on. She decided to go there and ask to use the phone.

As she approaches the house, she noticed that the place was not quite inviting. There were a lot of alarms and other protection devices. Alarm clock bells started to sound in her head. It was worrying her. Maybe it's not a good idea. She decided to go back to the road and see if she found another place.

After walking for some more hours, she finally got to what seems to be a kind of an old village. _I think I've been watching a lot of old films_, she thought.

She saw a bench in front of one of the house and decided to sit there and wait for the sunrise, since she could not find a phone.

As soon the sun came up, a guy – around 30´s, medium height, dark hair, wearing glasses in a suit, carrying a briefcase - from the house beside where she was at, opens the door and goes in direction of a parked car in front of the house. Chloe gets up and goes towards him. The guy almost had a heart attack, since he was not expecting to see anybody up this early there.

"Hi." She said, thinking that she needed to come up with some plausible reason to be there, so she could get to a phone. "Good morning, I don't want to impose on you, but it's possible to use your phone".

"Good morning, is there any problem, miss?"

"I'm not sure. Where is this place?"

The guy looked at her funny, taking a look at her appearance. "You don´t know where you are? Are you ok? Should I call the police? Maybe an ambulance?"

"Er, just a phone would be ok. I need to call someone. He must be really worried."

"Sure". He said reaching for his cell. "Here, you go."

"It´s probably gonna be long distance, but don´t worry I will pay you back." She answered taking his cell.

She dialed Watchtower.

"Hello" Said Victor in the other side of the line.

"Hey, Vic. It´s me. I´m ok, I think."

"Chloe? Where are you?"

"I´m at…" she pause looking at the guy next to her. "Where are we?" saying it, put her hand over the phone.

"We are near Wiscasset, Maine."

"What? Thanks!" Taking her hand from the phone. I´m somewhere near Wiscasset, Maine."

"Where?" Victor could not believe it. "I´m sending Bart o get you ASAP. Do you need anything?"

"I could really use some clean clothes and pay for this call."

"Done. Bart will be there any second now. See you soon, tower."

"Bye, Vic"

As soon as she disconnected the cell, some wind struck her. That was Bart for sure. And the he was beside her.

"Hey, Chloe. Received the message. Here are your clothes."

Finally noticing the guy beside Chloe. "hey, man. Thanks for helping her out." Extending his hand to him.

He gives Bart a shook. "No problem." Turning to Chloe. "Would you like to freshen up? The bathroom is the second door at your right."

"Oh, thanks." She said already heading to the place.

* * *

After changing her clothes, Bart took her back to Watchtower. In her way back home Bart filled her about her M.I.A. situation, the clip notes version. She´s been missing for several days, 10 in total. And on top of that, she got to know how this whole situation was driving Oliver insane. He didn´t know what else to do to get her back. The entire league by now knew about their relationship. Chloe was a little uncomfortable with that.

As she stepped inside the Watchtower, she saw that Emil was already waiting for her to make some examination. Two hours and several tests later, it was clear that Chloe was in normal health and there was no sign of any kind of substance in her blood. As soon as she left the examination room, her eyes met a pair of a very concern ones from Oliver. He just come up to her and embraced her, trying to take every single inch he could of her in his arms. Like he needed her as much as he needed air to live. After some minutes like that, he took a step back to look at her face as he was searching for any sign of damage. Chloe was feeling very vulnerable and awkward for being under his intense gaze. And concern to know everybody knew about them. But Oliver didn´t seem to care, since the whole scene was present in front of half league, Victor, AC and Bart. With the three of them trying to avoid the scene.

It was overwhelming her. But she let it aside since her main concern now was to know what had happened to her. Oliver and the guys told her that they had recreated her steps, but nothing really stood up, so they asked her if she had anything else to add.

The only thing that came to her mind was the fact that on her way to that place, she was almost run over by a crazy driver at Lexton Ave. Victor immediately started searching for any footage near that place. He found a picture of the car, but that only thing that they could make of it was a blurred round thing as a theme. Chloe would have to work on the image to make it clearer. As soon she approached the computer, Oliver grabbed her hand. "Leave it to Vic. You should rest." He said looking very concerned at her.

"I guess I could do that." She answered hesitating a little.

"Let me take you to my home, so you can rest. Tomorrow we can go full force to find out what had happened with some fresh energy." He said offering his hand to her.

Chloe took his hand and they headed towards the Watchtower doors.

The journey from Watchtower to Oliver´s penthouse was short, but very quiet one.

Oliver helped her to get out of the car and walked with her with as arm around her shoulders until the elevator.

As soon as they reach the penthouse, he took her straight to his bedroom´s bathroom. He left her there and came back bringing some clean clothes and a new towel.

"You should take a shower and then go to sleep. Are you hungry? I can prepare something while you are in the shower."

"That would be nice, thanks."

He kissed her forehead and left the bathroom again. Chloe strip off her clothes and entered the shower. As soon as she opened the shower, was like she was finally feeling it all. She started to cry. After crying for some minutes, she finished washing herself and dressed, going towards the kitchen, where she found Oliver finishing something on the oven.

"Hey, feeling better? Why don´t you come and sit here. I´m almost done." Indicating the island in front of him with his head.

"Sure" she said sitting by the kitchen island. "It smells really good!"

"Well, thanks is not much, just make you some pancakes." While he was giving the finishing touches on the plate. Here you go. "Bon appétit".

"Thanks, Ollie." She said taking a bite. "Hm, that´s really good. You need me to teach to make these sometime."

"No problem, tower. Anytime."

After they finished eating, they sat down at the sofa. Well, he was sitting on it and she was leaning over him. He was smoothing her back with his left hands while the right one played with her right hand.

"I´ve missed you, sidekick." He said and dips his head to kiss her forehead.

"I've missed you too" She said squeezing his right hand.

After some minutes, she had fallen asleep. Oliver picked her up and took her to his bedroom. He put her over his bed very carefully and then he lies down on her side, turning his body to her, so he could watch her sleep. After some minutes, she snuggled at him. Oliver couldn´t hide a smile. He could not believe how much he had missed her. Oliver stayed up for a while looking at her, she looked so peaceful. He kept thinking about how he almost lost her, and how lost he felt without her by his side or if he could never see or touch her again. Smell her scent. See her beautiful eyes sparkling when she was happy. Hear her laugh. It was the simple things that he missed. How life was too short. He would never want to feel that again, he would not lose her. She was his. She belong there, by his side him. He would do anything to know what had happened to her and make sure that anything like that never happen to her again, but first he had to recharge himself too, and with that thought he fell asleep too, holding her tight to him.

* * *

**_TBC_**


	2. Chapter 2

**Lost Time - **_**Discoveries **_**(2/4)**

The following days were spent on research. After many hours trying to read into the horrible quality image that they had from the car, they finally got a hit to the symbol on it and it belonged to a new organization called "New World". Their site on internet didn´t explain anything at all, it just said: "New World" – it´s a new company that will change the life that you know and the way you see the world. Come, join us in this adventure for a new life.

Chloe still didn´t get why this company wanted with her. After some deep research, she discovered that this company was created by the one and only Lex Luthor, back in the days when he was in Smallville. And now it was controlled by Tess Mercer. She should have known it.

* * *

Some days before Chloe´s disappearance, Tess Mercer was making some research on Lex´s old archives when she ran into all meteor freak files the Lex had compiled over the years when he was on Smallville. With those files, she found an underground company that Lex had created as soon as he arrived in Smallville. After further investigation, she found a very interested file about the one and only, Chloe Sullivan. She read all the meteor related files, but Chloe´s stood out and intrigued her, since the last file said that her power had mutated. So, she did what she knew was the only way to make sure it had indeed happened, she had Chloe taken with some other meteor freaks for some testing.

After have Chloe test in different ways, she end up clean. There was nothing meteor related in her system. _How odd? What hell happened to you, Chloe?_ She ends up staying there for 10 days instead of one day and a half like the others because of that. Tess needed to find the answer.

The scientists that worked for her came up with a theory, that Chloe must had mutated somehow and gone back to normal. But how that had happened, they still didn´t know. _Was it possible to become normal after being infected? _That was the question Tess made herself. More tests were applied. Each one more painful than the last one, but she had to get to the bottom of it. If there was a cure to meteor infection she would find it. The world certainly would be a much safer place. The more her scientists experiment on her, the more common Chloe´s result came up. It was too odd, but she could not have more tests on her without killing her, so Tess decided to let her go and watch her very closely and probably in a near future make some more tests.

Tess had her minions abandon Chloe in the middle of a road in nowhere land. That would buy her sometime to cover up all the paper trail that could lead to her company.

* * *

Although by day everything seemed quite normal, the nights were not so good because after two days of her return, Chloe started to have nightmares almost on daily basis. Since the nightmares didn´t seem to go away, she went to Emil who had attested that those were some kind of suppressed memories of all that had happened to her during those missing days. She was pretty sure she didn´t want to relive all of that, but they could be helpful and might lead her to the people responsible for her current state. She really needed to find them and close them down. She would not let more people suffer what she had gone through.

Those nightmares and the memories of those tests were really painful, because she always ended up, waking up screaming to the top of her lungs and kicking everything around her, like she was trying to get free of it all. And the pain felt so real to her. For Oliver, who slept with her every night, it was too painful to see her like that and the worst part of it was to try to wake her up and make sure she was ok. The first thing he would do was hug her as a way to reassure her that she was safe, rubbing his hands on her back to calm her down until she fall asleep again.

As the days went by, Oliver was getting more concerned, because the terror and the excruciating pain that he saw in her face while she was having this nightmares was growing each day. _What hell did they do to you, Chloe?_ He would never forgive them. They would pay to make this to his Chloe.

During the day, Chloe and Victor were getting closer and closer to uncover the real truth behind the entire organization that was set up by Lex. All the kind of things that they did on their facilities and to sum it up they discovered all the names of the people who were abducted and experimented on by Lex and Tess. Now the only thing missing was, what the hell they were trying to find out with all those? And why they released them after the test and kept tabs only on a few of them? What was that they were really looking for? Too many unanswered questions.

Chloe seemed stable for everybody else, but was when she was alone, usually in her shower time, it was when she let it all go. She cried a lot, because some of the painful experiments were affecting her each day more and more but she didn´t want Oliver and the guys to get too concerned with her. She needed to get to the bottom of it soon.

Although she thought she was hiding her pain very well, Oliver knew that Chloe wasn´t ok as she showed off to be. What he did not know was how deep the pain was until one day, when he decided to enter the bathroom during her shower time. He knew that she cried, but he did not know how much pain she was going through. A simple shower was a very hard task. It was like her body kept remembering her those experiment pains in each simple movement. He needed to know what they really did on her. As he saw her smothering her cry of pain, he revealed himself to her. She could not believe that he did that, but he did not seem to care, he just got close to her, wrapped her in the towel, and tried to smooth her with his left hand up and down her back.

"Why you did not tell about this. I´m taking you to Emil right know. You are barely functioning the way it is. It seems to get worse by each day. I can´t see you like that, Chlo. It´s killing me too."

Seeing his pleading eyes, she nodded her head agreeing with him.

After arriving at Emil's office, Emil said that they should try monitoring one of her sleeping time to see how her brain was being affected by it all. He gives her something to induce sleep to speed up the process. After some minutes she was in a profound state of sleep.

* * *

On Chloe´s mind, all she could see was darkness at first, and then there was a sudden light, like somebody had turned on the lights. Bright white lights shinning through her eyelids. She was laying in some kind of gurney in the middle of a room, it looked like. But she couldn´t see anything clearly, it was all kind of a blur. Then she heard voices, two men and a woman talking while they seemed to get closer to her. She wanted to move, but she couldn´t, she was paralyzed. Then her sight became clear, she could see she was in some kind of laboratory. Three people, probably the owner of the voices she was hearing approached her, one of them with a very thick syringe and out of blue stacked her in the middle of her chest. Ouch! So much pain. She was only paralyzed but not with anesthesia.

"Sorry, but this the only way we can get what we need. Is not likely that you will remember this." Said the woman among them.

"Stop talking to the subject 4102! How many times I have to tell you to not socialize with the subject." Said the man who looked like the boss there.

"Right."

"Next syringe, please. And you, turn her over." The boss said to the other men standing on the other side of her gurney.

Chloe felt a very sharp pain, then blank. She must have passed out.

Next thing she saw, she was striped, with her feet and hands tied, being held to another place, she was over some kind of a table, so cold. While some lights were all over her, like scanning her entire body. Then, a laser shot right through her into her heart at first, causing a lot of pain. She could barely breathe and her heart beats started to accelerate, then the pain was gone, just to start all over again. Then blank, she must have passed out again. Next thing, all she could see was the same thing, but a little lower, at one of her lungs, she thought, because breathing was too hard, maybe she should just give up. She tried to fight to get free, but she couldn´t move an inch. The procedures were each one more painful than the last. She always ended up passing out from the pain. She was dreaming about another procedure, the pain was too much, every inch of her body was aching, her heart was beating furiously and her breath were short and fast, she was contorting herself in pain.

Oliver and Emil were getting worried by the minute because all of Chloe´s reaction during her nightmares seemed to have direct effect over her body; it was like her body was reliving it, all over again. Then her heart sped up into uneven bits, like she was panicking and then her heart just stopped. The heart monitor besides her gurney just went flat. Oliver couldn´t tear his eyes of her, like he was in shock for some seconds. This could not be happening, he thought. He could not lose her again, so before Emil had any chance to begin any resuscitation procedures, Oliver was already by her side, trying to give her some heart massages. But nothing seemed to work. Emil brought the defibrillator, shocked her three times and nothing. After some minutes trying without any response, Emil just stopped; it was time to let it go. He could not believe in what just had happened. He just stayed there, while Oliver was still trying desperately to relive her at any cost, shouting at her with tears running through his face. He kept pleading her between sobs:

"Please, Chloe. Don´t leave me!" holding tight to her hand.

"Come back!" He squeezed her hand once again.

"I need you, Chloe" He said, brushing her hair off her eyes and whispering it in her ears.

After some more minutes, he finally gave up and slipped to the ground crying desperately without letting go of her hand.

* * *

**_TBC_**


	3. Chapter 3

**Lost time - The beginning of the end (3/4)**

Oliver could not move or leave her hand, although it was cold, 30 minutes had already passed since her final heart beat. Emil was trying to help him stand up, although he was too stunned, trying to understand what just had happened.

While Oliver was standing up, a bip sound echoed through the room, then another. Oliver stand up in a rush to take a look at her and Emil run to the other side of the bed to examine her pulse, while he was looking at the heart monitor beside the bed. Her heart was beating again, in no time it was beating at normal pace and 10 minutes later, Chloe was opening her eyes, just like she had woke up from her sleep, except that she was feeling very thirsty and very tired, but no more pain. When she finally was completely awake, all she could see were two pairs of very concerned eyes on her. She turned to Oliver and asked:

"What happened?"

"You were dead for half a hour." He said trying to not show how desperate he was just a few minutes back, to not scare her out.

"What? My power is back?" She asked turning towards Emil.

"I´m not sure. It didn´t show on the last examination. Let me draw some blood and wait for the results."

"Ok." She answered noticing that Oliver was looking intensely at her.

After Emil took her blood and left the room. Oliver was hugging her desperately. At first Chloe was a little bit hesitant to the embrace but then she let it go and hugged him back. She closed her eyes, trying to dissolve all that they had told her. But as soon as she closed them, Oliver started to speak close to her ear, almost whispering it to her.

"Sidekick, are you trying to kill me? I need you here beside me. Don't scare me like that again. I don´t know if I can survive it." He took a step back, trying to get hold of her face. Chloe opened her eyes and saw those big brown eyes staring at her. She gulped. "Chloe, I… love you."

Chloe, was not sure if she had heard it right, so she blinked twice, like trying to process her thoughts. "You, what?"

"I love you Chloe. I´m in love with you. And all of this only confirmed that." He said, brushing his hands over her arms. Trying to reassure her of his words.

"I…" If she just could say a word. He totally took her by surprise there. She was really not expecting it at all.

"You don´t have to say anything now. I´ve just… needed to say it out loud. I need you to know that."

"Hm…"

"I tell you what, why don´t you put your clothes back so we can go back to Watchtower, see if the guys found anything new."

"Ok."

"I will be waiting outside." He said leaving the room.

Chloe stood there, looking at the door, trying to process everything. In a couple of hours, she just died, she come back to life and Oliver declared to her… If she told this to anyone, they would think she was crazy, she thought, while changing her clothes.

* * *

As soon as they arrived at Watchtower, they met with AC, Bart and Victor there, waiting to give them some news.

"Hey, guys what´s new?" Said Oliver, holding one of Chloe´s hand.

"The problem is a little deeper than we initially thought. Digging more, we found out that the project is to find some kind of cure to the meteor infected, making them normal or transforming them in weapons. And it all points to their suspicions that you've been cured, that´s why the made all of the tests. If you can be cured, others can be too or be used in their favor and then make, them go back to normal afterwards, after whipping their memory of course, just like they did it to you, Chloe" Said Victor.

"That´s insane." Said Chloe.

"Completely." Said AC.

"No, it´s insane because I don´t think there is cure, since I´m pretty sure it´s back." Said Chloe, squeezing Oliver´s hand.

"What is back?" Asked Bart, looking concerned at her.

"My power. I'm not sure yet, I have to wait for some results from the test Emil must be running right now." Said Chloe with three pair of eyes starting at her.

"What happened?" Asked AC looking very concerned at Chloe.

"We don't know exactly. But I think I died and came back." Said Chloe looking very unhappy with the news.

"Oh my god, Chloe. Are you all right now?" Asked Bart, after running by her side to look at her more closely.

"I guess, no more pain." She said, shaking her shoulders.

"That's good, no?" Asked Victor.

"I think, let's wait for the definite results." Said Oliver squeezing Chloe 's hand trying to reassure her.

"So any idea of attack?" Asked Bart.

"We certainly have to end this." Said Oliver turning to Victor can you trace all money sources that Tess has? It might help."

"Sure thing."

"What is your plan?" Asked AC.

"I think the best action right now it's to dry her money resources."

"That's a good start, Ollie. We need to end this. They can´t keep testing on people like they did on me. I don´t wish this not even to my worst enemy." Said Chloe, trying to stay calm.

"So let's do it." As soon as Oliver said it, Victor was already heading towards the main computer, AC was heading to one of the stations and Bart to another.

Oliver pulled Chloe towards him and saying it almost whispering at her ear. "Why don't we go home for now. You need to rest a little. I might need that too, after that stunt you pulled on me, sidekick." He said trying to be funny, but his concerned were very clear.

"Sure, I could use some rest right now. Dying and coming back is never easy. I think I will never get used to it."

"I don't want you to get to use to this ever. I don't think I can't take another one of this." He said looking very serious now at her eyes.

"I don't want it either." She said pulling him with her hand towards the watchtower doors. "Let's go home, Ollie."

He smiled at her and following her lead, turning only to warn the guys. "Hey guys, we are leaving, see you first thing in the morning, ok? Bye."

"No problem, bossman." Answered Bart.

* * *

On the following day, after gathering all the information that they had got so far, they sat down to discuss a plan. First, Victor presented all the information AC, Bart and him had got the day before. Chloe and Oliver listened to all very carefully. After that, Oliver and Chloe exchanged a very quick glance at each other, just like they had a very quick agreement, then Oliver nodded to Chloe, who turned to the rest of the guys and said:

"Well, guys, I think that the best action is indeed to dry out the money source. Victor and I will try to make everything that is possible via computers. AC and Bart, I'm sending you guys to make some recon to all the facilities, so we can get ride of all of them in a very near future. Oliver is going to keep tabs on Mercy movements on the corporate side of it, trying to find her associates in this endeavor."

"Let's put this first faze of the plan in motion, guys." Said Oliver.

With that said, Bart was already by the door. And said: "I see you later, I'm going to make some recon on the facilities on the west coast. Be back by the end of the day. Better have a ton of pizzas and burritos waiting for me!" Then he gave a wink and left.

Following Bart, AC headed to the door. "Got my list, going to the near by facilities." And with that, everybody went to his or her designate tasks.

* * *

As the days pass by, all the things planned seemed to go well. Chloe and Victor manage to block several Tess' accounts all over the world, while Bart and AC were successfully gathering all the needed intel to destroy the facilities. When Oliver wasn't playing CEO and helping around with other's tasks.

But soon, Chloe notice that holding Tess' account wasn't helping that much, her money source wasn't drying as predict and to make it worse, the project was not being stopped, on the contrary, it was increasing in a very alarming speed and spreading fast all over the world. I looked like Tess knew what they were up to. So Chloe and Victor started to dig deeper into everything related to her.

It took a few days, but they had finally found the truth about Tess Mercer. She was linked to some powerful guys over the Eastern Europe, China, Africa and Middle eastern. And there were much more labs and experiments that they previously thought. This thing was way deeper and more complex.

After getting all the information needed, they started to take action on all of her allies, drying out their money sources too and in the same time, bringing some of them to justice because most of them were deep involved in very shady kind of business all over the world. It would certainly clean up the air a little and maybe bring some peace for a while.

Their action plan was now much bigger, but more efficient towards to make all this kind of experiment to end. They started to end with the smaller ones and heading to the big guns. After some months, there were still a few powerful people standing, including Tess. That when Chloe finally could notice that Tess tabs on her were much closer than she had thought. She had some bugs put on her apartment. So that's why are you still standing, Miss Mercer. I guess now, we will take you out. Thought Chloe.

* * *

Knowing that Tess had been one step in front of them all the time and that they might finally finish with that, they decided to change some of their course of the actions. But while they were getting ready for that, some unexpected news hit the TV. Luthorcorp had been attacked. And Tess Mercer was among the people in building at that time next to the place where the bombing took place.

They all looked stunned. _What? Who did that? And why?_ Were some of the questions being raised between them. Somebody had decided to take some action before they could complete their plan.

* * *

**_TBC_**


	4. Chapter 4

**Lost Time - **_**Peace at last? **_**(4/4)**

At first, the news reported that Tess Mercer was dead, but some minutes after, she was found in a very bad shape and was taken to the Metropolis General Hospital. Her conditions were not good, as it was attested on the latest news.

Chloe decided that she want to have a chat with Mercer and Oliver decided to tag along since he also had some questions for her. As soon as they got to the hospital, they found out that she was still on the UCI and that she been unconscious for sometime now. But Chloe decided she would wait, otherwise she might not have another opportunity to question Tess.

After some hours, Tess gained some conscience and was stable, Chloe and Oliver manage to sneak in at her room. As soon as she saw them, you could see fear on her eyes and something else, they were not quite sure what it was.

Oliver let Chloe make some question first. Chloe approached Tess' bedside, inclining to get close to her ear. "Why Tess? Why did you have to do all of that to me and the others?"

"Why not? If there is a cure to your kind I've needed to know. The world would a much safer place."

"Really, that's going to be your answer?"

"Yes, a cure would help us all, the suffering of one or another is a very little price to pay."

Oliver, who was standing by the door until now, could not stay just standing there, listening to this woman, trying to justify what she had done to his precious Chloe. "What? Are you kidding, no? Nobody deserves to suffer that much, so you can find a cure that does not even exist. Your are insane!"

"Of course there is a cure and she is it. She has the key to it all." She said, staring at Chloe.

"I'm sorry to inform you, Tess, but I'm not cured, there is not such a thing."

"Stop lying Chloe, I saw it with my own eyes. All the results from the tests were normal. You are normal again."

"Not really, thanks to you. I guess you woke my meteor infection. In full gear, I might add."

"What? That's not possible. It can't be."

"Not only it can be, it is truth. Thanks to your experiments. Do you have any idea how painful those were?"

"You were not supposed to remember anything."

"How could you do that to another human being. You could have killed me!"

"Not really, I've stopped it before it could killed you. I would not kill the source of could have been the cure."

"You are some crazy bitch, you know. I don't think you would last half of what you put me through. You, sadistic bitch."

Tess started to laugh at that. "That's all you can say, Chloe. Where are all the witty for what you are known for? I'm a bitch so what? You are a freak! You are a poison to this the world."

At that, Oliver decided to talk again, getting closer to Tess, to let his all the anger that has been boiling, out. "And to think that once I thought I liked you. How you could change so much? The girl I knew back then would never do that to any human being. I should make you suffer the way you made her and the others suffer. Maybe you would learn something."

Tess laughed at his face. "Oh, please, learn what? To be smart and stupid at the same time like her. Like being so in love for someone who did not give a damn as long as she did? Always putting herself in danger to help others? No thank you. I have some sense of self preservation." She said finishing it with a cynic smile at Chloe.

"Stop it, Tess. Stop pretending what you are not. It's over. You single-handed destroyed your empire by playing with meteor rocks and trying to play God. Your friends are already gone, they are crumbling one by one and now you are too." Said Oliver.

"So you are responsible for this? I didn't think you have it on you." Insinuating her actual estate.

"This wasn't us, we don't know who yet, and we would never hurt anybody. We just don't go killing people for the sake of anything. Although it could certainly cut the problem from the root." Said Oliver, trying to control himself to not get close to this woman and snap at her, but eyeing her with a lot anger in them.

"Oh, please. Stop pretending to be so righteous, Ollie. That's not you."

"Actually it is." Chloe cut her. "He has been like that for a while, I think your obsession must have blinded you over other things."

"Oh, how sweet, your are letting your girlfriend fight your fights for you now, too. You've definitely changed." She said laughing.

Chloe got close to Oliver and extending her hand to him. "We should probably go. Leave her alone, she is not worth it."

"Ok. Let's go." He agreed let out a breath, taking Chloe's hand and leaving the room.

* * *

The ride back to Watchtower was very quiet. But as soon as they get there, they received the news that Tess was dead, she apparently had some intern injures that were not found in time. Chloe and Oliver look at each other, like questioning, how that happened. No way the doctors would miss something like that, especially from a rich patient. Something was up. Although they were kind of relieved that Tess was gone, they needed to find out the truth about her death.

After further investigation, they discovered that there was a group of people that wanted her dead for a while now. They were people that like Chloe had suffered all kind of experiments on Tess' hands. So they used their combined abilities to put an end to this. Nobody else would be experiment on like them, they would not be more rat labs.

The league let this slide, since those people had already suffered enough through those experiments and the only thing they wanted to put an end to that and go to their respective lives, without the risk of being taken again. In end of that aftermath, nobody else was truly hurt, except Tess. All the people involved in the explosion had been in a common situation, they all were taken again some time or another to be experiment more. What Tess didn't know is that the person who was supposed to wipe all those painful procedures from their memories, who was a meteor freak himself, and seeing all that was going on, he decided to not erase everything as she had ordered, in hope that one of them would remember and try to bring that woman down, so he also could get back to his own life and not be Tess' slave anymore.

With the threat of Mercy and her associates out of the way, Oliver finally decided it was time to take some off time. So he asked Chloe to come along to a trip to Hawaii, the whole gang would go too. They deserved some rest after those last intense months. Clark and John Jones were going to keep the tabs over Watchtower.

Chloe agreed to it because it's been ages since she had a day off and she certainly needed a break after all this insanity.

* * *

As soon as they all arrive in Hawaii, they split up. Bart, AC and Victor decided to hit the beach and maybe to catch some waves. Oliver decided to keep company to Chloe. Actually, everything he had in mind seemed to be going as plan and having Chloe only for him during this break, actually it was only 5 days, but he would make sure that these days would be unforgettable in a very good way. As soon the guys went at one direction, he decided to take Chloe to lunch first and after that, he would take to the beautiful isolated beach near the hotel so they could be alone.

Chloe was feeling good with this vacation and kind of overwhelmed with all the attention the she was receiving from Oliver, but she kind knew it would be like this since that day he confessed that he was in love with her, but she never said it back. It's been 5 months since that day, so she were indulging everything that Oliver offered, which was not that bad, it was good to be taken care once in a while and not be the one taking care of the others.

After lunch, Oliver kept up with his plan, he took Chloe to a secluded beach so they could enjoy each other company without interruption. He actually wanted this opportunity to talk to her.

As soon as they arrived at the destined beach, the beauty of the place mesmerized Chloe. The sand was so clear and the water so blue, surrounded with so many different vegetation and some different kind of and colorful flowers.

Oliver, who was carrying a bag, opened it taking a blanket off it and settling it over the sand so they could sit there. After they sat down, he took a bottle of wine and two glasses and then a bowl with fruits.

"Dessert." He said while arranging everything over the blanket.

"Somebody has been planning this." She teased him.

"Of course, professor. I want to you to relax and enjoy, let me take care of you for a change. You spend the rest of the year taking care of all of us. Indulge me." He said offering her some fruit.

"Well, if you put it like that, I think I will accept. I need some vacay on that too."

"And you sure deserve it." _Especially after all that happened to you with Tess,_ he thought.

While he was pouring the wine on the other glass he decided to start the talk he had been postponing since he had declared to her.

"You know, when I said that after you came back to live… I meant it." He said looking into her eyes, giving her the glass.

"Ollie…" She said, taking the glass and putting it on the ground.

"No let me finish it. I know that we had some issues along the way and that you never really saw our relationship as couple, but it was never like that for me, Chlo. It's been much more than that, even before we started this. And when all those things happened, it made me realize that I could not live without you. Without you knowing, you sneak right into my heart, sidekick. And I don't think I want to let it go, so…" He reached the back pocket of his pants and taking a ring from it. "Would you do me the honor to become my wife, Chloe Ann Sullivan? And make me the happiest man in the world?" Extending his hand with the ring in his right hand. "I lov…"

Chloe didn't wait for him to finish it, she just went for it and capture his lips with hers. Oliver was taken by surprise, but he soon started to kiss her hungrily. After some time, they parted, breathing heavily.

"I do, Oliver Jonas Queen. And just to let you know, I love you too. And I'm pretty sure that I've been in love with you for a while. I know that I never said it back to you, but you took me by surprise back there. And with all the craziness surrounding us, I just let it go, til more peaceful times, so we could actually talk without any world saving related news interrupting us." She said smiling at him.

"You should have said something, although I was pretty sure that you kind felt the same way." He said smirking.

"That should be not that difficult, Ollie, because you know me as well as I know you." She said winking at him .

"I know." He said brushing his nose on hers. "So when do you want to marry?" Looking very hopeful at her.

"I don't know."

"What do you think about a wedding in an island?" He said raising an eyebrow.

"You mean here?" She asked with a puzzled look at her face.

"Yep, after all those events, I can't bear to have you far from me."

"Oh… ok, why not? I've already agreed to it." She answered smiling at him.

"I will have Lois flown with Clark and John Jones for the event. What do you think about tomorrow?"

"What? Tomorrow you are certainly in a hurry, Mr. Queen?"

"Yes, I want the whole world to know that we are together and that nobody can't tear us apart again. And also, there is no better way than to start our honeymoon here, in this paradisiac place. Then we can extend it to where ever in the world that you want to go. I will be happy to go anywhere as long I am with you Chlo."

"Romantic much? I think we have our holes reversed here. I was the one supposed to make the wedding plans and you just would concur with me." She said grinning at him.

Oliver just laughs, because it was so true. _They were in some kind of reverse holes. So what? They were not a conventional couple and Chloe Sullivan was not an ordinary woman, she was just the most extraordinary thing he had the pleasure to have in his life. _He thought, smiling at her, already diving both of them to the ground, kissing her very passionately as they fall over the blanket.

**The end**


End file.
